As an individual ages, he or she may begin to lose mobility, and become less and less capable of performing routine household tasks including bending over to feed and water household pets. Other persons may be confined to a wheelchair. For those persons living alone, it may ultimately become necessary to give a household pet away when it is no longer possible for the person to safely bend over to clean the pet's feeding area, or to place food and water dishes on the floor for the animal. Giving up a pet may be devastating for an elderly individual, who may already be coping with the loss of aging friends and loved ones.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,431 Coviello discloses a food supporting platform for animal food, and a vertical guide mounted on a frame for supporting the platform at a plurality of heights for access to the platform by the animal for feeding and by an operator not capable of stopping to service the platform.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,263 Sexton discloses a pet food dish elevating assembly comprising: a main housing unit formed as a generally rectangular shaped box with an essentially hollow interior, a front face and opposing sidewalls, the interior including an electrically powered motor and two large buttons operatively coupled to the motor, the buttons extending through the front face, an axle being rotatably coupled within the side walls and including at least two axle sprockets, a motor sprocket extending from the motor and coupled to a first axle sprocket by a horizontal chain, activation of the motor causing the motor sprocket to rotate thereby rotating the axle of the apparatus; and at least one vertical leg coupled to the main housing unit, a vertical chain being positioned within a leg and around a second axle sprocket, a tray formed in a generally L-shaped configuration being coupled to the vertical chain, a user depressing a first button to move the tray upwardly, a user depressing a second button to move the tray downwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,318,391 Brillon discloses a lifter for pet food or water bowls that consists of a channel through which slides a riser lifting a hook onto which is hooked either a platform or a bowl or any such container. A handle allows the user to raise the hook to any desired height at which point it is automatically locked to that given height. By actuating a lever, the hook can be lowered.
There remains a need for a pet food elevating device which is easy for persons with reduced mobility to operate, and which may be readily installed without providing an obtrusive structure.